Abigail Mott

Abigail Lydia Mott Moore (August 6, 1775 – September 4, 1846) was an American Quaker, abolitionist and women's rights activist.

Abigail Mott was born in Cow Bay, Long Island, NY. She was the fifth of seven children by Adam and Ann Mott. She attended the Nine Partners Quaker Boarding School in what is now Millbrook, Dutchess County, New York, which was started by her grandfather James Mott and run by the Society of Friends. Abigail's brothers James Mott and Richard Mott also attended the Nine Partners Boarding School. Abigail followed in the footsteps of her brothers and sisters in 1811 and became an assistant teacher at the Nine Partners Boarding School.

While teaching at the Boarding School, Abigail met and fell in love with fellow teacher, Lindley Murray Moore. The pair moved to Rahway, NJ to start up their own Quaker school and married in 1813. By November 1815, the couple relocated to New York and had their first child Edward Mott Moore. Abigail gave birth to eight children, however only five of her children lived past the age of three. Money troubles led Abigail and her family to relocate to Rochester. They built a two story house and began a new life as farmers.

Abigail and her husband were both teachers at the Nine Partners Boarding School and they continued to teach after they left the school. In 1815, while in New York Abigail and her husband took charge of a school run by the Friends Monthly Meeting. By 1820, salary cuts forced Abigail and Lindley to move on and open a boarding school for boys first in Flushing, and then in Westchester Village, NY. By 1831, they chose to retire as teachers and start a new life as farmers. The extra time led the couple to get more involved in the anti-slavery movement. In 1836, Abigail participated in the Farmington Quarterly Meeting, along with Abigail's sister -in-law Lucretia Mott. The group had a strong abolitionist perspective and during that particular meeting Abigail was the signing clerk of the women’s meeting After an orphaned toddler was found wandering around Rochester, Abigail joined up with other women of Rochester and created the Rochester Orphan's Asylum in 1837. Abigail and Lindley, along with other abolitionist, founded one of Rochester’s first anti-slavery societies, the Rochester Anti-Slavery Society, in 1838.

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